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Since the Nebula Awards will be held in NYC, practically our backyard, we're planning on attending the awards and bringing back coverage. The Nebulas are given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best SF&F published in the US during the previous two years. It has a more professional vibe than the Hugos, and the reward is a bit of fame and the acknowledgment of ones peers. We'll be there covering it and bring back a report next month. - Ernest

From SFWA Press Release: 2007 Grand Master: James Gunn

After consulting with the Board of Directors and participating past presidents, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) President Robin Wayne Bailey has announced that James Gunn will be honored as the next SFWA Grand Master at the Nebula Awards® Weekend in New York City.

Gunn started writing science fiction in 1948, was a full-time freelance writer for four years, and has had nearly 100 stories published in magazines and books. He is the author of 26 books and the editor of 10; his master's thesis was serialized in a pulp magazine. Four of his stories were dramatized over NBC radio's "X Minus One"; "The Cave of Night" was dramatized on television's Desilu Playhouse in 1959 as "Man in Orbit"; and The Immortals was dramatized as an ABC-TV "Movie of the Week" in 1969 as "The Immortal" and became an hour-long series in 1970-71. Following a career at the University of Kansas he is presently professor emeritus of English and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction.

James Gunn is the 24th writer recognized by SFWA as a Grand Master. He joins Robert A. Heinlein (1974), Jack Williamson (1975), Clifford D. Simak (1976), L. Sprague de Camp (1978), Fritz Leiber (1981), Andre Norton (1983), Arthur C. Clarke (1985), Isaac Asimov (1986), Alfred Bester (1987), Ray Bradbury (1988), Lester del Rey (1990), Frederik Pohl (1992), Damon Knight (1994), A. E. van Vogt (1995), Jack Vance (1996), Poul Anderson (1997), Hal Clement (1998), Brian Aldiss (1999), Philip Jose Farmer (2000), Ursula K. Le Guin (2003), Robert Silverberg (2004), Anne McCaffrey (2005) and Harlan Ellison (2006).

Until 2002 the title was simply "Grand Master." In 2002 it was renamed in honor of SFWA's founder, Damon Knight, who died that year.

The 2007 Nebula Awards Weekend will be May 11-13, 2007, at the Marriott in the Financial Center, 85 West Street, New York, NY 10006. Room rates are set at $219 a night (single through quad), not including taxes, and hotel reservations may be made by phone at (800) 547-8705 or at (480) 894-1400 (online reservations are unavailable at this time).

(Source: SFWA)